Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Cinema, Concordia University. Born 1948, London, Ontario. Teacher, programmer, writer, critic, activist, Graduate of Guelph Collegiate, Western University and Columbia University. Retired from Concordia in 2017 after 41 years teaching film and sexuality/queer studies, including Indian Cinema. Author, compiler or editor of 14 books, including I Confess: Constructing the Sexual Self in the Internet Age (co-edited Brandon Arroyo, 2019). Co-editor with Matthew Hays of 50-book series Queer Film Classics (2008-2030), including Fire (Shohini Ghosh, 2010). Katherine Singer Kovacs Book Award for The Conscience of Cinema: The Work of Joris Ivens, 1912-1989 (Amsterdam). Teacher Punjab Public School, Nabha (1970-72); Visiting Professor, Film Studies, English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad (2018-19). His 1989 interviews with Indian independent documentary filmmakers on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UU-U9TDQrD3eBKdW8LY9crqQ

Vijaya Rao is Professor at the Centre for French & Francophone Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her teaching and research focus on Literature of the Indian Ocean, Representation of India in French & Francophone literature, and Quebec Literature. Her major publications include Ecriture indienne d’expression française (Yoda Press, 2008) and Reaching the Great Moghul: Francophone Travel Writing on India of the 17th & 18th centuries (ed. Yoda Press, 2012). She coedited a special issue for the journal Synergies-Inde on Cross-Readings and Francophone encounters between Quebec and India (2008). In 2018, the Government of Quebec conferred the Médaille du 50e anniversaire du Ministère des relations internationales et de la Francophonie on her for her contribution to the development of Quebec Studies. She is part of the collective that edited Displacement and Citizenship: Histories and Memories of Exclusion (Tulika Books, 2019).

Binita Mehta is Professor of French Emerita at Manhattanville College where she taught courses in French language, literature, and film. She is passionate about cinema, especially French-language cinema. She has also written articles and given talks on films by South Asian diasporic filmmakers. From 2012-2016, she was a co-panelist at post-screening Q&As of French language short films at the Avon Theater in Stamford. CT. Since 2021, she has been a moderator and guest panelist at post-screening discussions of the film festival Francophone Short Films in Harlem. She will moderate the post-screening discussion at the 2024 Francophone Short Films in Harlem at the Maysles Documentary Center on April 19, the Lycée Français de New York on May 1, and will be a guest panelist at the festival’s post-screening Q&A at the Maison Française-Columbia University on Tuesday, April 23.

Sachin Chatte is a film critic residing in Goa, India. His career in film criticism began in 1993 and has spanned three decades. Since 1998, he has been a film critic with The Navhind Times, Goa, and has also contributed to numerous other publications.
He is a member of FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) and in addition to his role as a critic, he has worked with the Mumbai International Film Festival (MAMI) as a curator and also curates films for the Cinephile Film Club under the Entertainment Society of Goa. He teaches Film Appreciation at Goa University and several other colleges throughout the state.

Ridhima Mehra is Co-Founder and Director of Rough Edges, which enables, mentors and produces feminist and queer documentary films, foregrounding the distinct voices of women, trans and queer artists. She draws on almost two decades of experiences at the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, India’s largest documentary body, co-leading the commissioning, creative realisation, curation and outreach of close to 700 films, diverse in artistic form, subject and authorship. She co-directed the annual Open Frame Film Festival, curating films, conversations, installations and trainings for fourteen editions. She draws on almost two decades of experiences at the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, India’s largest documentary body, co-leading the commissioning, creative realisation, curation and outreach of close to 700 films, diverse in artistic form, subject and authorship. These films have had – 2000 festival selections, 350 awards, thirty national film awards, screenings and honours at Berlinale, Rotterdam, Oberhausen, Yamagata and Busan, among others, and continue to be used extensively across local and domestic contexts. She co-directed the annual Open Frame Film Festival, curating films, conversations, installations and trainings for fourteen editions.

Rakesh Sengupta is a professor in the English department at University of Toronto. His research and teaching focuses on South Asian cinemas, film history, media archaeology, critical theory and global media cultures. His current book project, An Archaeology of Screenwriting: Archives, Practices and Epistemes of Indian Cinema, 1930-1960, plots the history of screenwriting in South Asia outside Western epistemological frameworks of cinema. His work interrogates universalist ideas of film archives, aesthetics and audiences to imagine an alternative history of the medium and offers a decolonial model of film historiography from the Global South. His research is based on historical materials in four languages across formal and informal archives in several countries, as well as interview-based fieldwork in Mumbai.

Rakesh’s article in BioScope was awarded the Best Journal Article by Screenwriting Research Network and received High Commendation for Screen’s Annette Kuhn Debut Essay Prize. His research has also been published in Theory, Culture & Society and Literature/Film Quarterly, among other journals and edited volumes. His public writing on South Asian cinema and culture has appeared in The Wire, Dawn and Indian Cultural Forum.

Rana Faizan Ali serves as the Head of the School of Media and Mass Communication at Beaconhouse National University (BNU), where he utilizes his extensive experience in academia and the media industry to shape the next generation of media professionals. A seasoned academician, broadcast journalist, and media trainer, Rana has cultivated a diverse career that spans critical domains of media, including disinformation, production, and strategic planning.

Throughout his career, Rana has been associated with leading television channels and government departments in Pakistan, making significant contributions to media education and training. His expertise and commitment to the field have earned him recognition as a thought leader in the industry.